Christmas in pictures
I've been meaning to post the story of my trip home for Christmas, I just never seem to get around to it. But it's cold and snowy out and it's cozy in here, so I have the perfect opportunity to stop procrastinating. Anyway, here it is...
I had a 4 day weekend over Christmas, so I decided to go back home to Detroit for a few days. The plan was to leave Iowa City right after work on Thursday and get home last Thursday night, so I'd have three full days at home, then I'd have to drive back on Christmas. So I packed up the cat and headed out east.
This is what transpired on the trip:
1. My car dies on the freeway in the middle of Illinois.
2. I manage to coast off the freeway and down a hill towards a gas station, but the light turns red so I don't make it.
3. I can't brake.
4. I end up stopping the car by throwing it in park, which produces a very unpleasant grinding sound, but also lets me stop the car without hitting anything.
5. I run to the gas station, where the attendant was no help and rather rude to me.
6. I return to my car to find a police officer who asks me if I've run out of gas.
7. Police officer pushes my car into a nearby parking lot with his car.
8. Police officer looks at my car, but knows possibly less about cars than I do, asks if there's someone who could come pick me up. I tell him I don't even know where I am.
9. Police officer drops me and my cat off at a trucker hotel with names of mechanics to call in the morning.
10. I'm awoken early morning by a phone call letting me know that my parents drove to Illinois overnight to come get me.
11. My dad and I manage to start my car and get it to drive long enough to roll into the Chevy dealer which happened to be 100 yards from the parking lot I was in.
12. Mechanic uses the word "catastrophic" when describing what happened to my car.
13. Car's final resting place: Morris, Illinois.
This is me, sad that my car is dead, just short of 160,000 miles.
This is Oliver, hiding behind a chair in the hotel room.
The other fun part of the trip was driving back on Christmas day. Not much was open, of course, so I got to stop for Christmas dinner at the Iowa 80, also known as the world's largest truck stop.
The place really is giant. There's a huge souvenier shop, as well as a truck parts store, barber shop, showers, a truckomat, and even a custom shop where you can get things emroidered or laser engraveded (custom naked lady mudflaps anyone?). The best thing about the Iowa 80 is that they have an annual Trucker Jamboree in July complete with super truck beauty contest, a pork chop cookout, and the trucker olympics. Calendars have been marked.
I had a 4 day weekend over Christmas, so I decided to go back home to Detroit for a few days. The plan was to leave Iowa City right after work on Thursday and get home last Thursday night, so I'd have three full days at home, then I'd have to drive back on Christmas. So I packed up the cat and headed out east.
This is what transpired on the trip:
1. My car dies on the freeway in the middle of Illinois.
2. I manage to coast off the freeway and down a hill towards a gas station, but the light turns red so I don't make it.
3. I can't brake.
4. I end up stopping the car by throwing it in park, which produces a very unpleasant grinding sound, but also lets me stop the car without hitting anything.
5. I run to the gas station, where the attendant was no help and rather rude to me.
6. I return to my car to find a police officer who asks me if I've run out of gas.
7. Police officer pushes my car into a nearby parking lot with his car.
8. Police officer looks at my car, but knows possibly less about cars than I do, asks if there's someone who could come pick me up. I tell him I don't even know where I am.
9. Police officer drops me and my cat off at a trucker hotel with names of mechanics to call in the morning.
10. I'm awoken early morning by a phone call letting me know that my parents drove to Illinois overnight to come get me.
11. My dad and I manage to start my car and get it to drive long enough to roll into the Chevy dealer which happened to be 100 yards from the parking lot I was in.
12. Mechanic uses the word "catastrophic" when describing what happened to my car.
13. Car's final resting place: Morris, Illinois.
This is me, sad that my car is dead, just short of 160,000 miles.
This is Oliver, hiding behind a chair in the hotel room.
The other fun part of the trip was driving back on Christmas day. Not much was open, of course, so I got to stop for Christmas dinner at the Iowa 80, also known as the world's largest truck stop.
The place really is giant. There's a huge souvenier shop, as well as a truck parts store, barber shop, showers, a truckomat, and even a custom shop where you can get things emroidered or laser engraveded (custom naked lady mudflaps anyone?). The best thing about the Iowa 80 is that they have an annual Trucker Jamboree in July complete with super truck beauty contest, a pork chop cookout, and the trucker olympics. Calendars have been marked.